At hotels and inns along the Chesapeake Bay, nautical decor is nothing new. But a just-opened downtown Annapolis hotel is taking the maritime tradition to another level, incorporating special boat-ey touches and nods to the Naval Academy at every turn.
The Graduate Annapolis officially opened its doors October 11, and Mayor Gavin Buckley welcomed it with a ribbon-cutting this Tuesday. Most visitors will remember the space in the Annapolis arts district of West Street as the Loews from years past. But the 215-room Graduate Annapolis is all new, including its seafood restaurant Camp Severn Shore and lobby café , Poindexter.
Chesapeake Bay visitors will appreciate details like the four-story atrium with hundreds of nautical vintage art reproductions stretching up the walls, and the lobby’s teak desk hand-painted with lettering by a local boat-transom artist.
The hotel’s unique Naval Academy references include custom Bill the Goat mascot lamps, Herndon monument bedside lamps, and carpet depicting the Academy’s historic Bancroft Hall rotunda. Guest rooms bear photos of USNA graduates Roger Staubach and astronaut Sunita Williams. In some areas, there is wallpaper of Navy tattoos and scrambled letters that read, “Don’t Give Up the Ship.”
Here’s a glimpse of some of the unique elements we found at Graduate Annapolis. Choose any of the thumbnails below to click through:
Graduate Annapolis is one of 21 existing Graduate Hotels, all in “university-anchored cities” across the country. 12 more are under construction and set to open in 2020.
